“The Fate and Impact of Internal Waves in Nearshore Ecosystems” by C.B. Woodson introduced me to the wonder and science of internal waves. Like the surface waves most people are accustomed to thinking about, these internal waves also break as they near land and can bring of deep offshore waters into the nearshore environment:

These deeper waters are often colder, lower in oxygen, higher in CO2 concentration (lower pH), and nutrient enriched. Consequently, internal waves can dramatically change the ambient environment, leading to either extreme oxygen (hypoxia) or pH (acidification) events. However, they can also mediate extreme heating events by providing a temporary reprieve from high temperatures. Deep offshore waters can also provide nutrients and food subsidies to nearshore ecosystems. Nutrient-deprived nearshore ecosystems, namely coral reefs, can be highly dependent on such subsidies.

…this field rapidly developed both analytically, starting with the use of stable and radioactive tracers, and computationally, from the use of slide rules to the development of onboard computers with disk drives (with 250 KB of storage!) and the era of smartphones. Also changing has been the mode of communication between oceanographers—from handwritten or mimeographed notes to faxes to the early email and Internet (telemail) used by oceanographers in the 1980s to today’s email and social media. What follows, then, is a biased (biological/chemical) history of a period in which modern oceanography was largely developed and in which I had the great fortune to be a player.

“Spaceborne Lidar in the Study of Marine Systems” by Hostetler et al. is one of several articles in this volume that report on the use of satellites in marine research. This article reviews the use of passive color analysis to observe chlorophyll levels among many other topics and looks forward to an upcoming PACE mission which pairs the color observations with new tools:

Satellite passive ocean color observations have vastly improved our understanding of global links between biodiversity, ecosystem structure, and ecological and biogeochemical function. However, there are fundamental geophysical properties that simply cannot be characterized with ocean color technology alone. Addressing these issues requires additional tools in space. For example, the Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, and Marine Ecosystem (PACE) mission aims to co-deploy a multi-angle polarimeter with a hyperspectral ocean color sensor, with the polarimetry enabling more accurate atmospheric corrections and advanced characterization of ocean particle types. Here, we describe how even greater synergies may be achieved by combining a passive ocean color sensor with an ocean-optimized satellite profiling lidar.

While I’m used to thinking about language as a way of gauging cognitive development “Linking Language and Cognition in Infancy” by Perszyk and Waxman had me thinking about the ways language influences cognition. For instance:

…more recent developmental evidence reveals that, even before infants begin to speak, words invite them to form categories. The evidence for this claim comes from a robust behavioral paradigm, elegant in its simplicity. It is essentially an object categorization task with two phases. During the familiarization phase, infants view a series of discriminably different objects (e.g., dog, horse, duck) from a given object category (e.g., animal). Next, during the test phase, infants view two new objects—one a member of the now-familiar category (e.g., a cat) and the other a member of an entirely different category (e.g., an apple). The logic of this paradigm is straightforward: If infants detect the category-based commonalities among the familiarization objects, then they should distinguish the novel test image from the familiar; if they fail to detect these commonalities, then they should perform at chance levels ….The evidence reveals that, by 12 months of age, even before they produce more than a few words on their own, infants have established a principled link between object naming and object categorization.

I found “Gender Stereotypes” by Ellemers quite an interesting read. I particularly responded to the summation in the section “How We Can Benefit From This Knowledge”:

Gender stereotypes prevent women and men from equally sharing the care for children and family members and from equally benefiting from the interpersonal connections made through these activities. Gender stereotypes prevent women with successful careers from finding a romantic partner and men without employment from feeling valued. They cause us to underestimate the emotional burden of care functions for women and the physical burden of strenuous labor for men. This is not only costly for the individuals involved but also for society, as it impacts the psychological and physical well-being of individuals, the resilience of families, and the long-term availability and contributions of workers in the labor market. We are only human and have to accept that we are subject to stereotypical thinking and gendered expectations. Accepting our fallibility in this way, rather than denying that gender stereotypes play a role while implicitly reproducing them, makes it easier to correct for any undesired outcomes that may result.

As calls have been made to change the way science is conducted in psychology by preregistering designs and analyses and increasing sample sizes, some authors have noted what might be called collateral damage. The three types of damage that have been identified are (a) slowing and ultimate reduction of new findings and phenomena, (b) penalizing different subfields with the imposition of one-size-fits-all norms, and (c) discouraging young scientists from staying in the field because of the higher bar for publication and professional advancement.

Before I get to the fire and explosions I want to highlight the lovely article “John Leask Lumley: Whither Turbulence?” by Leibovich and Warhaft that begins this volume. This biography includes sections about Dr. Lumley’s love and appreciation for vintage cars and good food and wine as well as a look at his contributions to fluid mechanics. It’s a remarkable tribute and a worthwhile read.

Tohidi, Gollner, and Xiao wrote “Fire Whirls” which I found myself thinking about as I watched coverage of the California wildfires:

Throughout the literature, fire whirls have been identified by a variety of names, including devil, tornado, twister, whirlwind, or even dragon twist (Japanese). Regardless of the name, when the right combination of wind and fire interact, the result is an intensification of combustion with whirling flames that we call the fire whirl. Although the fire whirl or fire tornado shares some features with its atmospheric counterparts, it remains distinct in its source of buoyancy, combusting fuel, structure, and formation patterns. In nature, fire whirls are most often observed in mass fires. These include both large wildland (also known as forest fires or bushfires) and urban conflagrations, such as the burning of cities or towns…

While action movie explosions make it seem easy, a controlled detonation that accomplishes more than looking good on film is difficult and complex to model. “High Explosive Detonation-Conifer Interactions” by Short and Quirk begins by explaining some of the complexity:

The dynamics of a given HE–confiner system depend on the pressure-loading properties of the explosive (magnitude and timescale), while in turn the structure and speed of the detonation reaction zone and the lateral confinement of explosive products are dependent on the material properties of the confining material, such as its density and sound speed. The ability to predict the motion of a detonation in an explosive system (known as the timing) and the response of the confiner to the HE detonation pressure loading depend on our ability to model and understand this detonation–confiner flow coupling…

I found “Lymphatic System Flows” by Moore and Bertram quite interesting especially as it explained the importance of several organs I’d always been curious about:

The lymphatic system as a functional whole includes several organs whose association as a system is not readily apparent. Lymphoid organs include the spleen, thymus, and tonsils; another vital component is the bone marrow where white cells are manufactured…. Functionally, the lymphatic vascular system runs in parallel to the blood venous system, in that both return fluids centrally. Lymphatic vessels carry lymph, which is largely water gathered from interstitial tissue spaces. Fluid appears in the interstitial spaces because blood capillary walls are somewhat leaky, allowing part of the aqueous component of blood to escape, along with some proteins…. The lymphatic vascular system scavenges this water and protein, ultimately returning it to the venous circulation via junctions with the subclavian veins at shoulder level. The maintenance of the interstitial milieu is one of its vital functions; if fluid is not returned to the blood system at the same rate as it leaves, the painful and debilitating condition of edema can develop.

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Knowable Magazine will use various forms of storytelling to explore the life, physical, and social sciences. Review articles from the Annual Review journals serve as springboards for journalistic pieces in Knowable Magazine, including in-depth features, explainers, and even comics. The online-only magazine will focus on explaining the real-world significance of research, punctuated with forays into the wonder of the world around us. This initiative receives support from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

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